Polish president, military top brass in annual briefing

The meeting was held to discuss issues including planned changes to Poland’s military command system and work to follow up on NATO summit decisions, officials said.

The meeting, which began with an official welcome of the president in his role as the commander-in-chief of Poland’s armed forces, was attended by officials including Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz and Paweł Soloch, head of the president’s National Security Bureau (BBN).

Those taking part also included government spokesman Rafał Bochenek and the heads of the defence committees of both houses of Poland’s parliament.

Polish defence ministry officials and top military commanders routinely meet every year to evaluate tasks accomplished over the past year and to set priorities for the future.

The main part of Wednesday’s meeting was held behind closed doors, with journalists allowed to hear only short speeches by the president and the defence minister.

Building a 'strong state'

In his speech, Duda said that “our most important task is to build a strong state,” one with a “well-equipped and well-trained army that has the necessary experience and preparation to both defend Poland’s borders and cooperate with allied forces.”

Duda also said that last year's NATO summit assigned tasks to Poland that he said “must be implemented for the good of Poland and for global security this year and in the years to come."

According to the president, priorities include “the development of the command staff” and “an increase in the number of Polish troops,” in addition to “infrastructure development” in terms of enhanced army equipment and increased combat capability.

An important task is the “timely development” of the country’s new Territorial Defence Force while meeting “appropriate quality standards,” the president also said.

NATO troops

According to the National Security Bureau’s Soloch, President Duda planned to outline his defence policy priorities during the meeting, including those related to the best possible integration of Poland’s troops with soldiers from the United States and other NATO countries arriving in Poland this year following decisions made by NATO leaders at their Warsaw summit last July.

(str/pk)

Source: TVP Info